Young voters take advantage of early voting as Democrats, Republicans rally supporters

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After a record-breaking day one of in-person early voting, voters across the Triangle were out in full force again Friday.

"We live in North Carolina. This is a battleground state. We have to vote. It's our duty," said Nick Terehoff, part of a group of four physics PhD students at NC State who showed up to vote at Talley Student Union.

Talley Student Union is one of a record-setting 22 early voting sites in Wake County. The line Friday was a mix of students and community members.

"I'm a very busy student, so it's very convenient to just walk over on a Friday," said NC State graduate student Liliana Teta.

In 2020, NC State had the highest voter registration rate in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with more than 80 percent voter participation during the presidential election.

"The whole voter registration drive that they had a couple weeks ago was really enjoyable. People came out to it in droves," said NC State graduate student Purnav Charuv.

According to the US Census Bureau, 18- to 34-year-olds saw the largest voter turnout increase between 2016 and 2020, though that group still participated at lower rates compared to older age groups.

"I'm getting everybody know. I got my two friends over here. I'm asking them, you know, do you want to go vote with me? I'm asking everybody when are you voting? So I'm just trying to get everybody to go out and vote," said Michael Agnelli, an NC State sophomore.

"There are so many people on this campus and there's so many people who want to be civically engaged so having events like this are calling everybody out from the university - hey, come vote, come walk with us," said Landon Clemons, a sophomore at NC Central.

Friday afternoon, NC Central hosted its Soar to the Polls event, a nonpartisan gathering aimed at motivating students to participate.

"I think you've got to reach the students before you teach them. They don't want people to lecture them why it's important to vote. They want to make sure you care about their needs, they want to make sure they're engaged before you ask them to do an action," said NC Central Senior Class President Marcus Spates.

"I went to last year with my mom, but couldn't vote. (I) wasn't old enough yet. So this is my first time, first ever doing it on my own, being on my own and just making my own vote," said NC Central sophomore Camren Rivera.

According to a report from Tufts University, 66% of college students cast ballots in 2020, a 14-point jump from 2016.

"I think it's extremely important since we're going to be the ones taking it over one day, so I hope that we see even more people turn out who are younger," said Teta.

On the first day of early voting, registered Republicans made up a larger share of the voting total compared to 2020, though slightly trailed Democrats. Still, the boost comes as the party shifts its messaging on early voting, even sending mailers encouraging supporters to do so.

"If we swamp the votes early, it will give us a big enough lead to where we can sustain it through the night," said Agnelli.

At UNC System schools alone, there are nearly 248,000 students enrolled, a major group for both parties to capitalize upon. Historically, Democrats have fared better with younger voters; a Pew Research report from April found that Democrats held a 32-point edge in voters 18-to-24, and advantages in every age group younger than 49 years old.

Students shared a variety of issues important to them.

"I'd say climate change, clean energy type issues are important to me," said NC State graduate student Joseph Fry.

"There's the economy and foreign policy. The first one is making sure that there's a lot of deregulation for small businesses and making sure that the private sector doesn't feel too constricted. The second one with foreign policy. I have a lot of family that's over in Eastern Europe and so the situation that's going on with Ukraine is you could say is pretty big a point of politics for us at the family dinner table," explained NC State graduate student Matthew Rybnicek.

"Economy, immigration and foreign policy," said Agnelli.

"Abortion and climate change. These are these are our top issues. (The) sanctity of our elections is a big thing," added Terehoff.

"Environmental stuff is very important to me. I'm a landscape architecture graduate student, so that is probably the most important issue," noted Teta.